Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Clearing the clubhouse air

I just want to take a moment to clear the air about a story I wrote a couple days ago about the clubhouse situation now that Roy Halladay is not with the team. In today’s Toronto Star, my story was referenced with comment from second baseman Aaron Hill:

Second baseman Aaron Hill takes his inherited leadership role in the Jays’ post-Roy Halladay world very seriously. So, before anything could get ratcheted out of proportion, he wanted to make it absolutely clear that even though this Jays clubhouse may seem more relaxed and self-confident, it’s not the result of Doc’s departure, taking his legendary intensity and “don’t-bother-me-the-day-I-pitch” focus to the Phils. It’s balanced with other players maturing.

“This clubhouse has always been good,” Hill explained of insinuations of intimidation Halladay might have had on the young Jays last year. “But you just have to have that respect for the guy on game day because that’s his game. Everyone has his own routine. That’s his routine. It’s just for the fact he was so focused. You stick around (Halladay) for a while, we had a great time with him. You knew when he was going to do his (focus) thing. You knew when not to mess with him. It was just funny reading that (on MLB.com) because it made it sound like he was a bad guy.”

I spoke with Hill this morning and he told me he had no issues with the way my story was written and no problems with the angle I took in the piece. CLICK HERE to read my article. Hill’s only issue was with the headline that appeared above the story, which read, “Post-Doc era finds Jays looser, relaxed.” Hill knows that I do not write the headlines.

Hill agrees that there is definitely a difference in the clubhouse since Halladay was traded, but that does not mean Doc was in any way a negative influence or difficult to be around. I was careful to make that clear in my story. Hill also agreed, since Halladay was traded, it has been easier for the younger pitchers tp step up and form their own identity.

From talking to many of the pitchers — Shaun Marcum, Brian Tallet and Ricky Romero have gone on the record in this regard — they say that the absence of Halladay has opened the door for them to step up and try to be leaders in the clubhouse and on the staff. That’s a good thing. But, don’t take it the wrong way, they’d welcome Halladay back in a heartbeat.

~JB

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4 Comments

Thanks for clearing that up Jordan. When I first read the headline, I was upset and almost didn’t want to read the whole article. I know that is not the way you intended it to read, but I am glad others noticed it too and it wasn’t just me. Roy Halladay was and still is my favorite player in the game basebal.

Jordan, frankly no “clearing of the air” was needed, people are too sensitive.

The fact is Doc is gone and the sooner the team and fans move beyond that the better. Frankly, I’m tired of the “wish Doc was still here” type of articles and posts from fans. He’s not and never will be back so deal with it and the sooner the better.
AA did a phenomenal deal and we got great prospects in return. A continual remembering of Doc is like the Jays continually rolling out memories of 92 and 93. Get over it.

Time to move on, the young pitchers have, maybe Hill and others should too……

Hey Jordan….thought it was a great article. The atmosphere around the clubhouse is, in my opinion, immesurable towards a teams success. The open exchange of information between pitchers should help them mature as major leaguers.
No need to “clear” the air man….anyone who read the article knows that it was well written, and properly researched. And for those who could not get past the headline………the article under it explains it….your welcome.
Keep up the good work Jordan

I agree with the other comments, there should have been no need to clear the air…..some beat reporters apparently are hard up for a story and love to take things out of context completely…..Your story was very well written and the angle you went for worked….

What I got from the article, is that our team has become more of a “TEAM”….not that they weren’t a real team before….but I always felt like everyone was out to just prove their worth…or like they were trying to prove themselves to the brass.

Now, from everything I have read this year so far, is that the pitchers are working together to figure out how to take down their opposing team. And the same with the hitters…in their approach to who they are facing that day.

I like this new approach and you’ve presented it well.

Keep up the good work Jordan, I am sure other reporters are very jealous of your job…I know I am.

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